The first glimpse of Laguna Bacalar felt like a mirage, a flash of luminous turquoise through a haze of trees. Twenty-six miles long and just over a mile wide, the “Lake of Seven Colors” snakes through the jungle, carrying tales of Mayan origins and pirate attacks.
The shifting hues, courtesy of the lagoon’s white, limestone bottom, practically demand to be photographed and I gave in, but my photo was no comparison to the real thing, or to the 443,000 and counting Bacalar images on Instagram, showing the lagoon from different vantage points, at different times of day, with beautiful people on waterfront swings and boatloads of revelers raising cold beers.
The “Wild West”:
Bacalar’s name is thought to come from the Mayan “Bakhalal,” meaning place of reeds. Colonized by the Spanish in the 16th century, it sits just uphill from the lagoon and is centered around a large main square, or zócalo, anchored by the Fort of San Felipe. Sleepy in the humid jungle heat, the town remains compact and walkable; a coast road runs along the lagoon’s southern shore and is easily accessible by car or bicycle.
Fernando Gaza, the owner of Casa Tortuga, came to Bacalar in 2013 from Monterrey, Mexico. The waterfront hostel, which opened that same year, was one of the first on the shores of the lagoon.
“It was this hidden jewel. When you drive from Chetumal to Tulum, or Playa del Carmen, you don’t even see it,” he said. “Most people had just heard about it through word of mouth.
Bacalar has cenotes, natural swimming holes in the limestone rock; early Mayan archaeological sites (Dzibanche and Kohunlich); and, of course, that gorgeous, photogenic water.
Rapid growth has already hit Bacalar — Mr. Garza noticed a major increase in development, and foreign tourists, about three years ago, with new businesses springing up in the last six months.
Some of this change is a boon for travelers. Accommodations in Bacalar range from backpacker-friendly hostels — at Casa Tortuga, beds in shared dormitories are $20 per night, and a private room with a bathroom is $80 — to luxury resorts with rooms starting at $400 a night. Hotels and hostels on the waterfront, by and large, are pricier than those in town.
Options for food and drink abound, from local, wood-fired fare and a mainly Mexican wine list at Nixtamal to a breakfast of eggs doused with fiery peanut-and-pumpkin-seed salsa at Enamora. One evening, after a round of excellent al pastor and Cochinita Pibil tacos at Mestizos. I doubled down at Barbanegra, a buzzy taqueria and cantina with a steampunk-pirate beach vibe, filled to capacity. Their fried cauliflower tacos, layered with carrot, cabbage and guacamole were as delicious as I remembered.
A Different Kind of Tourism:
A growing number of local business owners are trying to inform tourists of the area’s fragility. Rooms at Casa Tortuga and Casa Chukum, a sleek boutique hotel that opened north of the zócalo last spring, have printed materials in their rooms with information about the stromatolites and the best way to interact with the lagoon.
It´s important to preserve and care this place, ir order to continue enjoying it for many years more.
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References:
nytimes,com, wradio, chilango,com